Category: Case Updates

In the case of Hall v. Rocky River, 2019-Ohio-1997, an Ohio appellate court held that a union employee is required to exhaust administrative remedies under the grievance procedure prior to bringing a court action under a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”). In this case, a union employee was terminated for poor performance. The union employee appealed […]

In the case of Shadd v. Cleveland Civ. Serv. Comm., 2019-Ohio-1996, an Ohio appellate court upheld the termination of an employee where the employee violated several safety protocols and the city’s disciplinary policy allowed the city to skip disciplinary steps depending on the severity of an offense. In this case, a construction worker was terminated […]

In the case of Kane v. Inpatient Med. Servs., Inc., 2019-Ohio-1975, an Ohio appellate court held that a separation agreement may be considered as evidence when the separation agreement impeaches – i.e., contradict – an employer’s explanation for an employee’s termination. In this case, an executive employee used Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) leave […]

In the case of Williams v. Trotwood Madison City Schools, 6th Cir. No. 18-3848, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 14707 (May 16, 2019), the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a public school board successfully demonstrated non-discriminatory reasons for the nonrenewal of an intervention specialist to defeat a retaliation charges. In this case, […]

In the case of State ex rel. Clift v. School Emps. Retirement Sys., 2019-Ohio-1896, an Ohio appellate court held that a public worker could not use worker’s compensation time when calculating time under the State Employee Retirement System of Ohio (“SERS”) deadline for applying for disability retirement. In this case, a school bus driver was […]

In the case of Parks v. Pickaway Cty. Bd. of Commrs., Ct. of Cl. Case No. 2018-01479PQ, the Ohio Court of Claims adopted a special master’s report and recommendation (2019-Ohio-1824) finding that a reasonable and good faith belief does not constitute sufficient evidence to establish that a responsive document exists to a public records request. […]

In the case of Brown v. Cleveland, Ct. of Cl. Case No. 2018-01426PQ, the Ohio Court of Claims adopted the report and recommendation of a special master (2019-Ohio-1819) finding that private, residential addresses used for voting at a public meeting are public records subject to disclosure. In this case, a local councilman held a special […]

In the case of Axelrod v. Dept. of Commerce, 2019-Ohio-1820, the Ohio Court of Claims adopted a special master’s report and recommendation (2019-Ohio-1821) finding that a public records request seeking any and all copies of files, documents, and communications “relating to” an entity that worked with a public office was overly broad. In this case, […]